Star Wars - A New Hope - The Life of Luke Skywalker

by Ryder Windham

  He had no need to tell the engineers about the two graves near his crash site, an area already covered by a fresh, heavy layer of snow. And although he could only ever imagine why his uncle had removed the headstones from the family plot on Tatooine, he realized that he cherished his memories of Frija more than he felt compelled to leave a monument on Hoth that would eventually give way to time.

  He left both graves unmarked.

  CHAPTER NINE

  ““Help!” a woman screamed from across the forest. “Please! Someone! Help!”

  Luke was surprised to hear any stranger’s voice. Because the Millennium Falcon’s sensors had not detected any evidence of civilization on the jungle planet, he hadn’t expected to encounter any intelligent life forms. Without hesitation, he turned and bolted through dense foliage, running toward the unseen Woman.

  Luke, Han Solo, Chewbacca, C-3PO, and R2-D2 had been on the Falcon, traveling with the Rebel fleet after hastily evacuating their former base on Yavin 4. They had guided the fleet to a hyperspace jump point that would take them directly to their new base on the ice planet Hoth. Unfortunately, when they had attempted to follow the other ships through hyperspace, the Falcon’s navigational computer had gone haywire. The Falcon had emerged from hyperspace in an unknown sector, and the crew had been forced to land on the uncharted world to make repairs to the navicomputer as well as the hyperdrive.

  Han had been anxious about the planet even before they’d landed. He maintained that trouble always had a way of finding them on apparently peaceful worlds, and he had encouraged Luke to scout around to make sure that nothing unpleasant would interrupt their work on the Falcon. Initially, all Luke had found were strangely beautiful plants, towering trees, and a few small non-threatening creatures. He had been musing that Han’s anxiety was unfounded — before the woman’s scream pierced the tranquil forest.

  Luke vaulted over a thick, fungus-covered root of an enormous tree to arrive at the edge of a clearing. He found himself facing a monstrous plant with an eyeless bulbous head and a gaping maw. Long tentacle-like tendrils extended from beneath the head, and one tendril was coiled around a terrified girl. She had fair skin and blond hair, and her scant clothing appeared to be made from animal skins. To Luke’s astonishment, he recognized her.

  Tanith Shire?

  He hadn’t seen Tanith since they’d gone their separate ways at a spaceport on the planet Kabal, where they’d parted with a kiss. She’d been wearing more conventional clothes at the time.

  Luke ignited his lightsaber and rushed the carnivorous plant. His blade swept through one tendril, but then another appendage lashed out and struck his wrist so bard that the lightsaber was knocked from his grasp. As the lightsaber fell to the forest floor, Luke found himself suddenly lifted off his feet by the powerful monster.

  The tendrils snaked and constricted around Luke’s body. He managed to extend his right hand over the grip of his holstered blaster pistol, but the monster pinned his arms to his sides. Desperate to reach his blaster, he extended his fingers as far as he could.

  Luke still had much to learn about the power of the Force. He wasn’t even trying to use the Force when the pistol sailed out of its holster into his waiting grip. As the monster twisted and tightened its hold on him, Luke squeezed the blaster’s trigger.

  He shot the monster at point-blank range. It let out a rasping shriek, and then all of its tendrils went slack. Luke rolled away from the creature. As he pushed himself up from the ground, he was surprised to see Tanith running off into the forest.

  “Tanith!” Luke called out. “What are you doing? Come back!” But she did not pause. Wondering if the girl was in shock or required medical attention, Luke recovered his lightsaber, holstered his blaster, and then ran after her.

  Luke wondered how Tanith had wound up on the jungle planet. He couldn’t understand why she was running away from him. Doesn’t she recognize me?

  “Tanith!”

  Broad-leaved plants whipped at Luke as he raced through the jungle. He’d lost sight of Tanith in the shadows of the surrounding growth. Ducking under the fleshy, umbrella-shaped cap of a tall fungus, he suddenly spotted her again. She was running straight for the ledge of a high cliff.

  “No!” Luke yelled as he sprinted after the girl. She stopped short at the edge and turned, allowing Luke to see her frightened face. Luke leaped forward, grabbing her arm in an effort to haul her back from the edge, but then she lost her footing and fell backward, pulling Luke with her.

  They fell and plunged into the water of a deep, swiftly moving river. Having grown up on Tatooine, Luke was an inexperienced swimmer and had to fight his way to the surface. He saw Tanith flailing ahead of him, her wet hair plastered over her face. As the river carried them downstream, Luke struggled over to her side and caught her by the arm.

  “Tanith! Hang on! I’ve got you!” He pulled her toward the shore until he found his footing in the shallows. When they reached the river’s edge, he finally got a good, close look at the girl’s face. Although her eyes were filled with fear, he could see she was very beautiful.

  But she wasn’t the girl he remembered.

  “You’re not Tanith Shire,” Luke said in a daze as he followed the girl up onto the mucky shore. She backed away from him, cringing. She had long dark hair and a lean face with grayish blue eyes that Luke found strangely haunting. He couldn’t understand why his own eyes had deceived him earlier, not just when he’d first seen her, but right up until the moment they’d fallen into the stream.

  The girl continued to look at Luke with apprehension. Luke felt slightly dizzy as he faced her from the stream’s edge. “What’s going on around here?” he asked. “Who are you? What made me think you were Tanith Shire? You don’t look similar at all.”

  “I am S’ybll,” the girl said, her voice trembling. “I fear the atmosphere of my world is sometimes too rich. For strangers, almost intoxicating. It is easy to imagine things. . . “

  “It’s sure got me confused,” Luke said. He looked away from the girl to survey the jungle. “If I mistook you for someone totally different, how much else have I imagined? Wondering all the time if what I see is real or not could turn into quite a. . . problem!”

  Luke’s wandering gaze had landed on an Imperial stormtrooper who stood just a short distance away, in the shadow of a tall tree. The white-armored trooper held a blaster rifle that was leveled in the direction of Luke and the unarmed girl.

  Luke moved without thinking, pulling his lightsaber from his belt and igniting its energy beam as he leaped at the trooper. The trooper didn’t flinch as Luke swung his lightsaber hard and fast through the plastoid armor. Luke was surprised when the shattered armor instantly fell away to reveal that it had been stuffed with bundled sticks. The armor and sticks collapsed with a loud clatter.

  Luke looked down at the heap that rested at his feet. “S’ybll? This is just an empty suit of stormtrooper armor. Why. . . ?“

  “I placed it here, Luke, in hopes it might keep intruders at bay,” S’ybll said as she stepped past the armor. “My home is just ahead.”

  Did she just say my name? Luke didn’t remember whether he’d introduced himself to S‘ybll, but decided he must have. “Intruders?” he said as he followed her. “What kind of intruders?”

  “My planet appears to be a tropical paradise, but there are dangers. . . wild beasts and such.”

  “But empty stormtrooper armor frightens them off?” Luke asked skeptically.

  “Sometimes,” S’ybll said. “Perhaps it is foolish. Still. . . it is not easy for a woman alone to defend her home.” She gestured to the ruins of an ancient structure that rose from the jungle floor. The structure included a flight of stone steps that led up to a series of architectural columns, some of which were still standing and supported broad lintels. Other columns lay broken. While a number appeared to have fallen, possibly because of erosion over many centuries, a few looked like they’d been deliberately toppled.

  Gazing
at the timeworn structure, Luke was reminded of the abandoned base on Yavin 4. Then his stomach clenched as he noticed several more propped-up suits of stormtrooper armor. He said, “This is your home, S’ybll?”

  “You find it strange I use a ruin as my home?”

  “No, S’ybll. Coincidental. Until recently, Rebel Alliance headquarters were in something similar.” As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Luke realized that he couldn’t remember if he’d mentioned his affiliation with the Alliance to S’ybll. He rubbed his eyes, then gestured to the empty suits of armor. “What I do find strange is all this stormtrooper armor. . . and no stormtroopers. What happened to the men inside?”

  “I told you my planet is not quite the paradise it appears, Luke,” S’ybll said as she directed Luke to a clearing beside the ruins. “These Imperials came exploring, and learned just how dangerous this world can be.”

  In the clearing rested an Imperial Lambda-class shuttle. Covered by thick moss and fungal growth, the vessel’s exterior was heavily battered. However, its wings were raised, and both the landing gear and the ramp were fully deployed.

  “The damage to this shuttle didn’t come from a crash, S’ybll.” Luke pointed to the cockpit’s shattered transparisteel canopy. “This hole was made from the outside. It’d take something pretty terrible to inflict it.” He turned to S’ybll and was taken aback by the concerned look on her face. Hoping to make light of his comment, he said, “First, empty suits of stormtrooper armor to give me a scare. . . now a smashed Imperial shuttle! You’ve got weird taste in home decoration, S’ybll.”

  “This craft landed long before I settled in this ruin, Luke Skywalker,” S’ybll said testily. “Whatever happened to those soldiers, I merely propped their armor about to frighten off wild creatures.”

  Luke gulped. “I was only joking, S’ybll,” he said. “Didn’t mean to insult your defenses. But I doubt they’ll stop anything that could damage a ship this way.”

  Unexpectedly, S’ybll moved close to Luke and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. “My planet is full of such dangers, Luke. I need someone to protect me. Someone like you.”

  Luke was surprised by S’ybll’s behavior but did not try to move away from her. As she tilted her chin toward the derelict Imperial shuttle, she said, “You see the damage done to this ship of the Empire, Luke. Suppose whatever inflicted it returns? I need protection.”

  “But, S’ybll . . “

  “I need you,” she whispered before she pulled him closer and kissed him.

  Luke backed away. “S’ybll. . . please,” he said. “I’ll do what I can to help you. But.. . I have other commitments. To my friends. To the Rebel Alliance. . . and to. . .”

  S’ybll’s eyes suddenly brimmed with tears. Before he could ask her what was wrong, she turned away from him and ran from the shuttle, heading into the ruins.

  Flabbergasted, Luke stood beside the shuttle for a moment, then looked off in the direction that S’ybll had fled. Only then did he notice that night had begun to fall. “S’ybll!” he shouted. “Where did you run to? I didn’t mean to upset you, but I can’t just desert my friends here and -“

  Luke saw a shadowy form pass behind one of the old columns. At first he thought it was S’ybll, but a moment later, the hulking form emerged from the ruins to reveal itself.

  It was a humanoid creature, nearly three meters tall, with green skin, long arms, and a massive torso. It had fangs and reptilian eyes. Luke recognized the monster instantly. It was either the Night Beast — the creature he’d previously encountered on Yavin 4 or its identical twin.

  The monster growled, then sprang at Luke. Luke leaped away and started running. He tried to reach out to the beast with his mind but could not sense any connection. Glancing back over his shoulder, he saw the monster lift a large block of stone and hurl it.

  Luke vaulted over a fallen column to avoid being hit by the flying block. The block smashed into the column. Luke kept running. He considered reaching for his blaster but decided against it. Not just because he recalled that energy weapons had little effect on the Night Beast, but because he didn’t know where S’ybll was hiding, and he was afraid an indiscriminate blast might cause a cave-in.

  “S’ybll!” Luke shouted as he ran. “Where are you?”

  The monster was catching up with him. Despite its incredible resemblance to the Night Beast, Luke was practically certain it wasn’t the same creature that had left Yavin 4 on a transport ship. The possibility of finding the Night Beast on such a far-flung world, and so shortly after their last encounter on Yavin 4. . . Luke couldn’t begin to calculate the odds.

  Remembering his comlink, Luke decided to summon help from Han and Chewie. Still running, he reached to his belt.

  His comlink was gone.

  Must‘ve lost it when S‘ybll and I fell into the river!

  The monster picked up another massive stone and hurled it. The stone crashed into the ground right in front of Luke.

  Luke stumbled over the stone and sprinted around the ruins. Arriving at a high, rough wall that was part of the structure’s foundation, he jumped up and began scaling it. He expected the monster to follow, and he planned on having his lightsaber ready. But as he gripped a chunk of stone and began to pull himself up, the ancient stone crumbled.

  “No!” he shouted as he fell backward through the air. He thought the monster was just below his position and that he’d fall right into its arms. Instead, he hit the ground hard. His back and legs took most of the impact but did nothing to stop the back of his head from striking the ground too.

  He lay on the ground, the wind knocked out of him. Forcing his eyes open, he saw that the sky overhead was now a deep, dark blue.

  He moaned as he rolled over and rubbed the back of his head. As best as he could tell, he hadn’t broken any bones, but just about everything hurt.

  And then he remembered the monster. He knew he had to get up fast, before it —

  “Luke.”

  It was a man’s voice. Still dazed and sprawled on the ground, Luke turned his head and saw the silhouette of a robed figure standing a short distance away, in the shadow of a still-standing column. Luke’s eyes flicked around as he searched for the monster.

  “The danger is past, my boy,” the robed man said, “but I’m concerned for your new companion.” The man moved out from the darkness.

  He was Ben Kenobi.

  “Ben?” Luke gasped. “How. . . ?“

  “I’m always with you, young Luke,” Ben said. “And it seems my sudden appearance has driven away the creature which menaced you. But what of your new companion, and the dangers which menace her?”

  New companion? It took a moment for Luke to realize whom Ben was talking about. He said, “S’ybll?”

  Ben nodded.

  “Ben. . . I’m still groggy from my fall.” Luke struggled to his feet and looked around anxiously. “How did a monster from my past appear here? Where did it go?”

  “There are many monsters here, Luke,” Ben said with a shrug, “even on a planetary paradise such as this. That is why your new friend, S’ybll, needs you, my boy. That is why you must go to her.”

  Luke clutched his head. “Han. . . the droids… Chewbacca.. . They’re all waiting for me, Ben.”

  “There will be time for them later, my boy. For now, it’s S’ybll you must consider. Go to her.”

  “She hid before the monster appeared,” Luke said absently as he staggered toward Ben. Glancing up at the ruins, he continued, “Was it here, Ben? You want me. . . to go here?”

  But Ben had vanished.

  “Help me,” Luke said. “I feel. . . so. . . so weak.” His legs buckled and he fell forward onto the ground.

  * * *

  “B-Ben?”

  Luke tried opening his eyes but he saw nothing. Nothing at all. Somehow be had been engulfed by darkness.

  His mouth was dry and his entire body ached. Shifting his legs and elbows slightly, he realized he was lying flat on his back
against a hard surface.

  “I must’ve blacked out,” he muttered aloud. “Where are you, Ben?”

  But it wasn’t Ben who answered. It was S’ybll.

  “Your friend is gone, Luke,” she said. “But all is fine. He convinced you not to leave but to join me here. . . here in my hiding place.”

  Luke felt her fingers push through his hair. “S’ybll?” he said. “There’s something over my eyes. . . ?“

  “Just a damp cloth, Luke. Don’t touch it. You suffered a slight concussion from your fall. Just relax. Let me treat you.”